George Crile III

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George Crile III
Trinity College
Georgetown University
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • producer
Television
Peabody Award
Edward R. Murrow Award

American Film Festival Blue Ribbon

George Washington Crile III (March 5, 1945 – May 15, 2006) was an American journalist most closely associated with his three decades of work at CBS News.[1] He specialized in dangerous and controversial subjects, resulting in both praise and controversy.[2][3] He received an Emmy Award, Peabody Award, and Edward R. Murrow Award.[3]

Early life and education

Crile was born March 5, 1945, in

Cleveland, Ohio.[1][4] He was the son of Jane Murphy (née Halle; 1909–1963) and George "Barney" Crile Jr. (1907–1992).[1] His father was a leading figure in the United States in challenging unnecessary surgery, best known for his part in eliminating radical breast surgery.[1] His mother died of breast cancer.[1] His stepmother was Helga Sandburg (1918–2014), daughter of Carl Sandburg.[3] His grandfather, Dr. George Washington Crile, was a founder of the Cleveland Clinic and a pioneer of modern medical surgery.[1]

He attended

School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the Defense Language Institute's Foreign Language Center at Monterey, California.[1][4]

From 1968 to 1974, He served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a lance corporal.[3][4]

Career

After college, he became a reporter for the

Gary Post-Tribune in Indiana and was assigned to The Pentagon beat in the early 1970s.[1] When he left the newspaper, he was a reporter for Washington columnists Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson, and was The Pentagon correspondent for Knight-Ridder newspapers.[1][3]

Crile was Washington editor of

The Washington Monthly, and The Washington Post Outlook Section.[1]

CBS Producer

Crile joined

U.S. American history
.

It was the first of a collection of broadcasts based on Crile's reporting, in which he took viewers into previously closed and inaccessible worlds. Among his notable documentary reports were The Battle for

Peabody Award and an Emmy Award.[3] The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception aired on January 23, 1982, and alleged that General William Westmoreland had purposely underestimated the number of enemy troop in the Vietnam War.[2] Westmoreland responded by bringing a $120 million libel lawsuit.[2][1][3] After an eighteen-week trial, Westmoreland and CBS settled out of court with what the former considered an apology—money was not involved in the settlement, and CBS stood by its story.[3][6] David Boies, representing CBS and Crile, credited Crile’s "unflappable testimony under cross-examination with effectively ending the trial."[6]

Crile was embroiled in another controversy following the 1980 CBS Reports program "Gay Power, Gay Politics", which he reported, wrote, and co-produced.[3] The program focused on gay politics in San Francisco following the assassination of openly gay supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.[3] It was widely denounced as manipulative and dishonest, a view partially upheld by the National News Council, an industry self-policing body not known for its willingness to criticize the networks.[7]

When

Krasnoyarsk-26, a secret city built inside a mountain in Siberia which had nuclear reactors.[8]

CBS Reporter

In 1985, Crile joined 60 Minutes, where he produced scores of reports with Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley and Harry Reasoner and established his credentials as a specialist in coverage of international affairs.[1] His initial 60 Minutes report, revealing the Soviet nuclear command's willingness to consider halting the targeting of the United States, played a significant role in helping set up a summit between the United States and Soviet nuclear commanders. His numerous reports from inside the deadly secret worlds of Russia and the United States appeared on 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II as well as an hour-long documentary for CNN.[3] The Overseas Press Club twice awarded him the Edward R. Murrow Award for these broadcasts.[3]

His broadcast subjects included reports on:

After the

militant Islam.[3][4]

Crile with Charlie Wilson in Afghanistan

Charlie Wilson's War

See also: Operation Cyclone

In the late 1980s, Crile began the research and reporting on the Afghan War that led to his 2003 best-selling book,

modern history, the CIA's secret war in Afghanistan that was intended to give the Soviet Union their own Vietnam.[1] The support for these jihad leaders was channeled through Pakistan, leading to the creation of a new threat to the United States and its allies—which Crile claimed to have foreseen.[4]

Charlie Wilson’s War has been widely and favorably reviewed and spent months on

Universal Studios in December 2007.[9][10]

Personal life

He married Anne Patton, but that marriage ended in divorce.

CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.[1] Their children include Susan Crile and Jane Crile.[1]

Crile died May 15, 2006, at age 61 at his home in New York City from pancreatic cancer.[3][1] His papers are housed at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas Austin.[2]

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "The George Crile III Papers". Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Martin, Douglas (16 May 2006). "George Crile, CBS Documentary Producer, Dies at 61". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Pace, Gina (May 15, 2005). "CBS Journalist George Crile Dies At 61". CBS News. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  5. ^ "IFC Faces Extinction; TX Threatens Withdrawal; Rosenberg Resigns". Trinity Tripod. December 12, 1967. p. 1. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Dana, Rebecca (2006-05-22). "George Crile Dies: CBS News Producer, Reported on C.I.A." Observer. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  7. ISBN 0195042050
    ).
  8. ^ "60 Minutes II | Dan Rather". danratherjournalist.org. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  9. ^ "Charlie Wilson's War". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
  10. ^ Interview on Charlie Wilson's War at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library

External links

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